A Blind Accessibility Engineer Switches from a Mac System to Microsoft Windows

After five years with a Mac-based system, a veteran of the accessible technology industry switched back to Windows. Marco, who has been blind his entire life and uses screen readers, made the move, in part, because his Apple system didn’t have steady comprehensive fixes.

It is just the adding up of things that I found over the years that caused me to realize that some of the design decisions Apple has made for OS X, bugs that were not addressed or things get broken and not fixed, and the fact that apps are either accessible or they aren’t, and there’s hardly any in-between, are not compatible with my way of working with a desktop computer or laptop in the longer term.… I want to be fast, effective, productive, and be sure my assistive technology doesn’t suddenly stop working with my braille display or be susceptible to business decisions placing less emphasis on it. Screen readers on Windows are being made by independent companies or organizations with their own business models. And there is choice. If one does no longer fit particular needs, another will most likely do the trick. I do not have that on OS X. -- “Switching back to Windows.” Marco’s accessibility blog. 2/7/14.